Disclaimer:-
Another One-Shot from me. I was
working on my other stories, this one just nagged and nagged at me
until I gave in and wrote it. It's... a tad depressing I'm afraid...
Just like always I don't own LXG or Tom Sawyer. (No matter how cute
Shane West is.)

Enjoy
and please read then leave a review!

~Voices
in the Dark.~

When Tom
Sawyer was about four he was scared of the dark. He didn't know why,
not really, only that there was some kind of monster lurking in the
dark, waiting for young boys to close their eyes and drift off to
sleep before attacking.

As the
years went on, he soon lost that fear, telling himself that he was a
bog boy and big boys do not sleep with a night light. The years
passed and the memory of lying awake, scared of the dark passed from
his mind until it was as hard to remember as his parents faces.

A few
days after he became an Agent for the American Secret Service, Tom
slept with the light on for the first time since he was four. The
reason behind it was simple - Tom had killed a man.

True,
Tom Sawyer now lived in a kill or be killed world. He killed the man
to save his own family and friends, a primeval urge to protect his
nearest and dearest. The face of the dead man was permanently etched
into his memory, the sound of his death as the man tried to take a
breath, even though his lungs had forgotten how to.

As night
crept in though the window, Tom lay on his bed, his mind running over
and over the death. Soon he began to imagine people who loved that
man, people who he loved. The man must have had parents. Were they
still alive, not yet knowing that their son was never coming back
home to them? The man was someone's
son, just like Tom was.

The
young American turned on his side and threw up, before staggering to
his bathroom and scrubbing at his hands, trying to wash them. He
washed and washed until blood ran, still feeling dirty.

Then he
returned to his room, cleaned the sick up and slept with the light
on.

~~~

Time
went on. Life for Tom went on. During the day he laughed and joked,
the whole world being nothing more than a game to him. He was one of
the best marksmen in the service, along with his partner and life
long friend, Huckleberry Finn.

During
the night he left the light on, fearful of the faces that lurked
there, waiting for darkness to haunt him, twisted in there death
agony. Children looked at him, orphaned because of Tom. Wives wept,
because there husbands were never coming back. Parents staggered to
graves, not believing that there child would die before them.

It
didn't matter how much Tom tried to tell himself that these men would
have killed Tom without a thought - the voices cried out to him,
asking him; why?

Why
indeed?

After
the death of Huckleberry and his rejection by Becky the voices became
more daring, coming from where the light of his night light met the
darkness. Now the voices belonged to someone he knew.

Why
did you let me die Tom? I thought we were friends! Huck
said. Tom shook his head, trying to force the bile back down his
throat. Huck was not really here, Huck was dead, it was only his own
imagination, hunting him, refusing his sleep.

YOU
killed me Tom. Not the Phantom... You.

~~~

The
stateroom Tom had been given by Captain Nemo was spacious and well
lit. Even so, Tom knew it would not be enough to stop the voices of
his own mind from attacking him. The first night abroad the Nautilus,
Tom kept all the lights in his room on, his eyes scanning it, his
breathing uneven and shallow.

The
dreaded questions didn't come to him that night and for the first
time since Huck's death he slept peacefully. The mission he and the
League were on finished with the death of the Phantom and the
casualty of Allan death. Though it all, Tom slept with all the lights
on, basking in the absence of his fear.

The
memory of fear faded, as it is impossible to truly remember the
terrified intake of breath as your worst fears are realized. Tom grew
relaxed.

It
was a week after Allan's death.

Eyes
open boy... can't protect you anymore. Not after you killed me. The
voice of Allan shot though Tom's head, making his heart clench
together in fear. For a few seconds he even forgot to how to breathe
as his eyes snapped open to show his room in utter darkness.

...Oh
God... he thought wildly, his
breathing becoming more and more ragged. It was as if something had
broken inside of Tom, his mind working overtime as every man he had
killed appeared in his room, their voices reaching Tom. He created
families for them, friends who missed them.

He
flung himself out of his bed, gasping in sheer terror, his eyes wide.
He moved forward, hands tightly pressed over his ears, his blonde
hair covering his eyes.

"Can't
hear you... can't hear you..." He muttered, as he fell over a
table. It hit the floor with a smash, Tom's body not far behind.

Why
Tom?

Tom
Sawyer shook his head, trying to block Huck's voice. He crawled
forward on his hands and knees, tears blurring his vision.

"I
don't know that! It's just my imagination!" He shouted, his
green eyes now filled with the unshed tears. His hands hit another
table, slapping against the wood hard. He gave a small groan and
began to edge around it, the fear gripping his heart.

It
was going to be my wedding a week ago... but you put paid to all
that...

Tom
cried, the tears spilling down his face, leaving wet track marks on
his cheeks. Thankfully at that moment he reached the closed door.
Gasping in relief he pulled himself upwards, feeling the rough grain
of the wood under his fingernails. He reached the main light switch
and pressed down on it, the light flaring up. Instantly the voices
stopped and Tom slid back down to the ground, bent over himself,
hugging his legs, his head touching his knees.

The
next day he found out that one of Nemo's sailors had walked past and
seen the lights on. He had poked his head in and seen Tom asleep so
had turned off the light. Tom nodded numbly and walked away.
Afterwards he didn't leave the main light on, just a little night
light.

So
the voices came back.

~~~

Tom
Sawyer was not scared of the dark, only the things that waited for
him within it. Sadly - for the American Agent - the dark creatures
that waited for him were forever in his memory, just waiting for the
darkness to let them go.

So even
though he was a grown man, Agent Tom Sawyer - brave almost to the
point of stubbiness - slept with the light on, to protect him from
himself.

~Fin~

There
you have it. Pointless? Most likely. Please leave a review and tell
me what you think. Cookies are excepted and welcomed ;)

~Sethoz

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